NAME Fusiformisporites lineatus
AGE Late Eocene-Early Oligocene.   AGE span: 37.2...28.4 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Fungi Imperfecti, Didymosporae.
FIGURE(S)
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FIGURE REFERENCE Mustard PS, Rouse GE. 1994. Stratigraphy and evolution of Tertiary Georgia Basin and subjacent Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington State; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 481, p. 97-169.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY F. lineatus Rouse & Mustard 1997, p. 207.
LOCATION Strait of Georgia, eastern Vancouver Island, the Fraser River lowlands of southwest British Columbia, Canada, and the northwestern Washington State, USA.
ORIG DESCRIPTION* Fusiform fungal spores, dicellate, inaperturate, with striate levigate wall 0.75-1.0 µm, uniform in thickness, deep melanin brown; striations varying from prominent and running from one pole to the other, to smaller, shorter, and less distinct extending between the middle septum and either pole; full-length and prominent striae in some specimens extend through polar wall to exterior; polar cap broken away from pole in a few cases (pl. 13, fig. 1). There are occasional branches in some striae, both prominent (pl. 13, fig. 1, 2) and weak (pl. 13, fig. 1). Dimensions: range of length 58-62 µm; of width 23-29 µm.
COMMENTS* This, the largest species of Fusiformisporites yet detected in the Tertiary [sic], is a good index fossil for Late Eocene-Early Oligocene age of western coastal deposits in North America.
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Mustard PS, Rouse GE. 1994. Stratigraphy and evolution of Tertiary Georgia Basin and subjacent Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington State; Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 481, p. 97-169.
K&J REMARKS Having had the opportunity to study the holotype, Kalgutkar and Jansonius (2000) observed that the deep melanin-brown spore wall in this species, generally of a uniform thickness of ca. 0.75-1.0 µm, has a slight thinning near the polar extremities, thereby differentiating what appears to be a polar cap that readily detaches or hinges open. The striations in this form, generally some 3-5 in each cell with a uniform width of 0.3-0.9 µm (and possibly a few additional narrower and shorter striae), are sharply drawn straight grooves cutting into and even through the sturdy and somewhat brittle spore wall (whereas in other species in this genus the striate pattern is more commonly caused by gradually thickening of the spore wall into ridges, leaving thinner walled regions between them). In the holotype there are about three to four striae on each cell, each ca. 0.4-0.8 µm wide, and most extending right to the polar caps. Dimensions are 58-62 x 23-29 µm.
TYPE
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Fusiformisporites lineatus Mustard & Rouse 1994, p. 142, pl. 13, fig. 1 (nom. nud.).; Fusiformisporites lineatus
SERIAL NUMBER 619
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.